![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_RD_SWA_160626pontywood.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt was erected by ‘undercover handymen’ and within a week was visited by a busload of German tourists<\/p>\n
15:53, 16 Jun 2026Updated 16:01, 16 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
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It is attracting tourists, say locals(Image: Andrea Edwards)<\/p>\n
It may be around 5,300 miles from the bright lights of Los Angeles but a small Welsh village has its own version of the iconic Hollywood sign.<\/p>\n
The unmissable landmark can be found in Pontrhydyfen, which has a population estimated to be just 830.<\/p>\n
It is the work of “mature undercover handymen” in the Afan Valley village, who wish to remain anonymous, as part of their work to brighten up the area, which also involves hanging bunting, strimming vegetation, erecting gazebos, and helping at community events.<\/p>\n
The Pontywood sign is best seen from the village’s aqueduct and featured in last year’s film Mr Burton starring Toby Jones. Always keep on top of the latest Welsh news with our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Andrea Edwards, chairwoman of Pontrhydyfen-based community group Burton Bont Festival Group, said: “It was put it up during the summer months and this is our second year.<\/p>\n “Within a week it was visited a busload of German tourists.<\/p>\n “Local businesses have seen increasing footfall with visitors coming to the village.”<\/p>\n The ‘Pontywood’ sign in Pontrhydyfen(Image: Andrea Edwards)<\/p>\n It is not the only landmark which is catching the eye in the village.<\/p>\n There are also murals of some of its most famous natives including Richard Burton and the recently-unveiled Ivor Emmanuel mural<\/a>, which can be seen on the side of the Colliers Arms.<\/p>\n Ms Edwards added: “It does make a difference having nice surroundings and attracting people into the village and our local businesses.<\/p>\n “It helps create footfall.<\/p>\n “On the weekend, for instance, whilst the Ivor Emmanuel mural project was being worked on, there was two couples from Nant-y-moel who came in and spent five hours in our small village, starting off at Bethel Chapel Cafe for coffee and cake before walking through following signposts and ending back at the Colliers, before deciding to have Sunday lunch in the village.<\/p>\n “We’re very lucky that all of our business stakeholder groups contribute to our projects.”<\/p>\n Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here<\/a>. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was erected by ‘undercover handymen’ and within a week was visited by a busload of German tourists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[38559,217042,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-644076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-places","tag-pontrhydyfen","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781727735_701_0_RD_SWA_160626pontywood.jpg\")
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